The Linux Mint team has started work on the next version of Linux Mint Debian Edition, known as LMDE 7 and codenamed “Gigi.” This upcoming release is being built directly on Debian 13 while carrying over the improvements that recently arrived in Linux Mint 22.2.
One of the key features is support for OEM installations. That groundwork was laid during the Mint 22.2 development cycle, and it has already been tested successfully on top of the Debian 13 package base. Users can also expect all of Mint 22.2’s improvements to make their way into this Debian-based spin.
Right now, developers are adapting changes in libadwaita, moving from version 1.5 to 1.7 while re-applying custom patches. There is one important caveat, however: Debian 13 no longer fully supports 32-bit i386, so Linux Mint Debian Edition 7 will only be available for amd64. A beta release is expected this September.
While LMDE 7 is the current priority, Linux Mint 22.3 is still on track for December. That release will feature a short development cycle, with attention placed on the new Cinnamon desktop, a redesigned menu, a refreshed status applet, and better Wayland support for handling keyboard layouts and input methods.
Linux Mint Debian Edition continues to serve as both a fallback plan and a testbed for Mint outside the Ubuntu ecosystem. With the move to Debian 13 and the upcoming December release of Mint 22.3, the team is pushing forward on two fronts to give users more choice in how they run Mint.
